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SERMON PREACHED BY THE REV’D ALLAN B. WARREN III AT THE CHURCH OF THE ADVENT, From St Luke’s Gospel:
The portion of Scripture from St Luke which we just heard as the Gospel is extremely complicated, quite startling, and a dozen or so sermons or Scripture studies could be based on what we just heard. And so, this morning I want us instead to do something simple: to take a look at a single word from that passage to see how it is used by our Lord. It is a term which is almost unique to Jesus. Therefore it must be important, even crucial in understanding his teaching. It is the word: “mammon.” You and I use the word nowadays to mean money or riches or wealth. And we use it, because we learned it from Jesus. In his time, however, it was an unusual term. For instance, it appears nowhere in the whole of the Old Testament. In fact, it’s not a Hebrew word at all. Rather, it’s Aramaic – the language spoken by Jesus himself. Scholars tell us that it appears, though infrequently, in various Jewish writers before or at the time of our Lord. They use it to mean resources, gain, compensation, but it means these things always with negative and rather shady implications. Indeed, “unrighteous” and “mammon” are two words which are very often linked. Scholars also tell us that the root meaning of this Aramaic word is this: “that in which one puts one’s trust.” Mammon – “that in which one puts one’s trust.” This last observation persuades me that it is not by accident that Jesus uses this unusual term as he teaches. In fact, I think we see here something quite deliberate: a choice of words that reveals the technique of a brilliant teacher. For Jesus uses the root meaning of the word to create a verbal irony which makes his point and makes it unforgettable. Mammon – that in which one puts one’s trust. But Jesus’ teaching overturns this. Again and again what he tells us is that you cannot put your trust in mammon, and you must not put your trust in mammon, for mammon will always and ultimately fail you. Mammon is there to be used and managed, but never trusted. And so we cannot and must not put our trust in that in which we normally want to put our trust. We are tempted every single day to seek our security, our prestige, whatever, in worldly wealth and possessions. Since we live in the world and work in the world, the temptation is inevitable and it never goes away. It’s part of life. But Jesus tells us that in order to live – really to live and eternally to live – the temptation must be resisted. This is the point of a parable we heard from the Gospel several weeks ago. (Luke 12:16 – 21) You may remember. A man had an abundantly fruitful harvest. There was a bumper crop, and everything was overflowing. And he sat back and began to make plans – confident and seemingly well-founded plans. “I will build bigger barns,” he said to himself, “and then I can sit back and relax, ‘eat, drink, and be merry.” But that was the night he was appointed to die. What good then would all his wealth – his mammon – what good would it do for him? And who would have it when he was gone? Thus it is, says Jesus, with “him who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.” And what about the rich young man we hear about later in the same Gospel. (Luke 18:18 – 23) Again, I am sure you remember the story. He was a righteous man by conventional standards. He kept the commandments and he followed the Law. But there must have been something missing. There must have been a disquiet and a dissatisfaction in some part of his life, for he came up to Jesus and asked him, “Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus loved him, the Gospel tells us, and he answered him out of that love, “You lack one thing. Sell all that you have, and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven, and come follow me.” Hard words, to be sure, but for the young man necessary words, spoken in love. Yet when he heard them, the young man became very sorrowful and went away, for, St. Luke tells us, he was very rich. Eternal life was at stake, and he knew it. Treasure in heaven. But he would not – and it seems, as well, he could not – give up his trust in mammon. He went away sorrowful, knowing – I suspect – that mammon would fail him, just as surely as it failed the man who wanted bigger barns. Mammon – that in which one puts one’s trust. But also, and ironically, that which cannot be trusted. Again and again our Lord makes this point. Trust is to be put only in God. And true treasure is to be found only in heaven. Worldly wealth, success, mammon will fail you. Earthly treasure is inevitably corrupted by moth and rot and rust and accident and thievery and time. The rain doesn’t come, and the crops don’t grow. Barns burn down. The stock market takes a nasty plunge. Trust is for God. Only for God. Again from Jesus:
Here is the point of Jesus’ teaching, and therefore one of the crucial tasks of the Christian life: to be faithful and trusting while living in the midst of a world of mammon. To be faithful and trusting so as not to miss the point of what life is all about. This is something each of us accomplishes in his or her own way. The rich young man, who questioned Jesus, could only be faithful if he gave it all up. His attachment was so great that he would have to sever it entirely. Most of us are not called to such extreme measures. And yet again, we are called to be faithful. And that means that we are called, we are expected to examine our attachment to the things of this world and to check whatever misplaced trust we may put in worldly treasure or success. For trust – says Jesus – trust can only be put in God – nothing else is sure – and there is no treasure, except that which is in heaven. And so once again let us pray as we did in the Collect of the Mass this morning:
Amen. |